The Color of the Abyss
by lyresdream
Summary: Spoilers for 5th manga. Dreams are a gateway into the soul. When you dream of darkness and blood, what have you become?


Hello everybody, and welcome to another Togari fic! Once again, this fic was just sitting in my harddrive, and so I decided I'm going to finally post it up. This particualr fic is between the 5th manga I believe. It's been awhile since I read the manga, so if I'm wrong, please be understanding.

Spoliers. You have been warned. After the fight with the water toga when Tobei dreams.

Hope you love it. I spent a while on writing this.

Please review!

Pitch black. "Huh?" A spotlight of harsh white flooded from above. He squinted upward in vain from his crunching position to find the source. But he saw nothing. Snapping his head around, he took in his surroundings. Outside the circle of light was…darkness. Where was he? Tobei felt a prickle of unease, the same feeling he got when there was a toga about.

"Where am I?" His words sounded muted, as if they were sucked out of the air. The malevolent sword known as Togari was strangely silent in his grip.

"Help…" Tobei's eyes widen. It couldn't be…

"Someone!" He swiveled his head to the side where the voice came from. Where moments ago nothing was there, Itsuki and a man, face half hidden by shadows, stood only several feet away, with a knife against her throat. Her slender arms were pinned behind her by the threat. For some reason, she was still wearing her uniform, her face pale and tight with fear. The man wore a simple black tee-shirt and black pants, the barest hint of a smirk playing at his lips. For some reason, he felt a strong déjà vu.

"Tobei!" She cried, saying his name like a godsend. His breath caught in his throat. It was the sewer all over again…

"Itsuki!" Dark, hot rage churned his insides. "Let Itsuki go, you…" he snarled, fury choking off his words. He sprang to his feet and darted toward them, Togari ready to massacre the stranger. Without warning the ground split open, corpse's arms flailing out. Hands griped him, holding him down. In vain, he tried to jerk free from their icy restraint. To his horror, the hands extended, pulling out the body from the ground to envelope him. The stench of rotting corpse nearly made him gag. "The hell?" he exclaimed. All of the corpses looked vaguely familiar; the people he had killed.

"The pain…" They whispered. Another cried, "The pain of being killed by you…" "Tobei!" As several hands gripped him, he tried to yank out of their grasp. By now, several of the dead had piled themselves on him, hoping to drag him down. Soft, rotting arms circled his neck and anywhere else they could reach him. Several pairs of hands gripped his hair and face, most especially the icy hands against his cheek. His own heavy breathing was drowned out by the moans of the dead. "Give us our lives back!"

"Kill anyone who gets in your way…" the stranger suddenly said. "The weak _deserve_ to die, right?" The darkness still hid his eyes, but not the growing smile.

"You don't care…" the stranger persisted, the knife moved smoothly, elegantly, _mercilessly_, across Itsuki's neck, nicking the skin. Itsuki's eyes and mouth simultaneously widen, her breath hitched in a gasp. A bead of blood welled and gently flowed down her white neck. "Who lives or who dies, do you Tobei." he was stating it, not asking.

A furious emotion rushed through him. Never had he felt so helpless. The oppressive darkness outside the harsh light only amplified the feeling. "Stop!" he demanded desperately. Throughout the exchange, he couldn't help but feel as if he had seen him before. Then it clicked. '_No…_' A sickening realization rose in him like bile. Tobei felt his innards tighten like he had been punched in the gut.

The bodies of the dead writhing around him, still clawing at his frame, somehow no longer mattered. The no longer stranger's smile grew to a grin, his face crumbling in amusement. A chortling rattled the man's throat and escalated into full out laughter. "Ha…ha ha ha!" Itsuki's brows pinched in terror at the high pitched sound, but Tobei watched the man's face in disbelief. The sound wasn't human.

"I don't take orders!" he grinned. Abruptly he snapped his head up and Tobei was staring into his own face.

"I decide…" He couldn't look away. "Who lives and who dies!"

Then his double disappeared. The familiar smell of wet copper filled the air. The corpses were gone, leaving him kneeling with a soft, wet body leaning against him. His hands, his shirt, his _body_ splattered with a familiar sticky red, and clutching a red-stained knife. He looked down, recognition came in as an icy wave.

Itsuki's dead, lifeless form was crumpled, like a rag doll against him. As if he had been the one holding her all this time and had let go. Blood stained the front of her and it all came from the long slit in her throat. Tobei felt his mouth go dry.

This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening…

Despite himself, he craned his neck to the side to try to get a better look. A trickle of blood dripped at the corner of her mouth.

"Who can you save?", the dark whisper echoing in the light, in his head. The darkness came closing in. She felt so cold. "After all…" Tobei's chest squeezed painfully.

This isn't happening, this isn't happening…

Itsuki's body was so red.

"You're a murderer!"


End file.
